Each year on Dec. 10, the United Nations and world community commemorates International Human Rights Day. Begun in 1948, this is the date the United Nations formally adopted the Universal Declaration of Rights. For the great community of nations from around the world, the Declaration of Rights enshrines the set of principles and beliefs that all members of the human family should be afforded by virtue of their basic humanity. The opening lines of the Declaration affirms, "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world"; and, "Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people."
The United Nations theme for this year's International Human Rights Day is, Recover Better: Stand Up for Human Rights, and this year the theme affirms that human rights must be at the center of the post COVID-19 world. The United Nations declares that, “Human Rights are driven by progress on all SDGs, and the SDGs are driven by advancements on human rights.” These sustainable development goals are:
? The COVID-19 crisis has been fueled by deepening poverty, rising inequalities, structural and entrenched discrimination and other gaps in human rights protection. Only measures to close these gaps and advance human rights can ensure we fully recover and build back a world that is better, more resilient, just, and sustainable.
? End discrimination of any kind: Structural discrimination and racism have fueled the COVID-19 crisis. Equality and non-discrimination are core requirements for a post-COVID world.
? Address inequalities: To recover from the crisis, we must also address the inequality pandemic. For that, we need to promote and protect economic, social, and cultural rights. We need a new social contract for a new era.
? Encourage participation and solidarity: We are all in this together. From individuals to governments, from civil society and grass-roots communities to the private sector, everyone has a role in building a post-COVID world that is better for present and future generations. We need to ensure the voices of the most affected and vulnerable inform the recovery efforts.
? Promote sustainable development: We need sustainable development for people and planet. Human rights, the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement are the cornerstone of a recovery that leaves no one behind.
On this year we don't need elaborate exhortations, phrases or songs; quite simply put, in a time when millions have contracted the virus, have been hospitalized and isolated; forged into caverns of instability and uncertainty; and gaze towards an empty chair at the table, we simply can say we pray for safety, we pray for love, we pray that the marvelous light shines anew.
We also know the work of lifting up one another remains. Today someone will be forged into a life of slavery and trafficking. Over 10 million children live in poverty. Millions are facing down the virus as essential and frontline workers are amongst the ranks of the unemployed and worry how they will provide for their families. We have seen civil strife on this year as we work to break down the walls of racial injustice. As the rigged temperatures of the winter are now upon us, someone is living out in a shanty on the street corner or in an underpass.
One of the most revered stories during the holiday season is Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. In one poignant line Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his long deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, who is condemned to carrying the heavy chains of neglect he forged in life for all of eternity. Yet, Scrooge compliments him on being a person of enterprise, industry, business, and is dismissive of the affairs of the poor and downtrodden. A livid Marley responded, “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business".
Perhaps the sentiments of our current state are best professed in the poem crafted by retired teacher Kitty O'Meara, And The People Stayed Home:
"And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves."
Eric Atkins